At 6:00 PM (Lisbon time), the euro was at 1.1447 dollars, compared to 1.1430 dollars at the same time on Tuesday.
During today’s session, the euro rose to nearly 1.15 dollars, its highest level since April.
The euro also appreciated against the pound and the yen.
The European Central Bank (ECB) set the euro’s reference exchange rate at 1.1423 dollars.
Today, the ECB lowered its three key interest rates by 25 basis points, marking the eighth reduction in a year, placing the deposit rate at 2.00%, the lowest level since the beginning of 2023.
In a press conference following the announcement, Lagarde did not explicitly state that the ECB might pause rate cuts, but mentioned that they are “approaching the end of a monetary policy cycle responding to accumulated shocks, including COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis,” which have caused prices to surge.
In a statement released after the Governing Council meeting held today in Frankfurt, Germany, the ECB indicated it reduced the average inflation forecast for the eurozone in 2025 by three-tenths to 2.0%, aligning with the target maintained for monetary policy decision-making.
Meanwhile, its economic growth forecast for the eurozone remains unchanged at 0.9% for 2025.
Across the Atlantic, data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed that the US trade deficit decreased by 55.5% to 61.6 billion dollars in April.
Additionally, it was announced that unemployment benefit claims in the United States stood at 247,000 last week, an increase of 8,000 from the revised level of the previous week, the US Department of Labor (DOL) reported.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump declared today that his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which lasted about an hour and a half, ended “very positively.”
On his social network, Truth Social, Trump indicated that teams from both leaders will soon meet to discuss tariffs at a yet-to-be-determined location and assured that “there should be no more issues in the future” regarding access to Chinese rare earths, a major point of contention between the two superpowers.
Currencies…………Today……………Wednesday
Euro/Dollar…………1.1447…………….. 1.1430
Euro/Pound…………0.84261……………. 0.84242
Euro/Yen……………164.33…………….. 163.08
Dollar/Yen…………143.57…………….. 142.67
